Aphrodite's Intrusion
by 2InsanitiesIn1
Summary: Post Serenity:The Movie.Mal has found a new love on Serenity, and for once it's not Inara. But when Inara's life is in imminent danger, will the happiness he worked so hard to attain be in danger as well? [Mal,OFC,Inara love triangle]


_Disclaimer- I own nothing that pertains to the Serenity/Firefly franchise, even though I really wish I did._

_Ms. O here, my loyal readers. Because I've been watching way too much Serenity/Firefly, I decided that I would start a fanfic to somewhat rectify what I think should happen in the story._

_The story takes place after Serenity: The Movie. It's basically a Mal/Inara/OFC love triangle. Please Read and Review!

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Captain Malcolm Reynolds was never one for petty small talk. Sure, it had been a known fact that Mal could rabble on about senseless pretension for hours, but when it came to conversation that didn't skip straight to the point, he would rather lick a cattle's hoof.

"Funny, I've always thought you were a little more clever, Captain." A woman standing at the cargo entrance of Serenity commented, her gun pointed directly at Mal. This woman, of course, was the queen of peripheral chatter, a fact that got on Mal's last nerve. And of course the whole 'held at gunpoint' thing may have been a bit perturbing.

"Are you perhaps implyin' I ain't?" Mal replied, his hands in the air, hoping she'd back off. "I mean, I ain't braggin', Athena, but I'm not exactly brainfried"

"Oh, I'd think twice about that prospect." Athena smirked, stepping closer into the closing ship door. Athena stood strong alone, her short brown hair slightly shaken by the gust of closed-door wind. Though only wielding her shot-brite gun in her right hand, her black belt held various gadgets and gizmos sure to make a man go blind within milliseconds. Even the knife strapped to her beige sleek pants was dangerously ominous.

"Jeeze, now you're pushin' it. Alls I did was try an' maneuver Serenity outta here under radar." Mal said, standing strickenly still in the darken cargo bay.

"Well the fact that there's an alliance post about three feet away may have been a bit of an inconvenience to you and your crew." Athena smiled, laughing at Mal's stupidity. The stupidity didn't seem to phase Athena, considering she stepped closer and closer to Mal as they pitter pattered with back and forth banter.

"How in the heck was I 'sposed to know?" Mal laughed in response. He seemed to grow a bit nervous as Athena came within a breath's distance, her gun now digging into his chest.

"And here we are back again with the lack of that we call 'clever'. Seriously, Captain, stubborn isn't even the word." Athena added an extra painful dig into Mal's chest with her last syllable.

"Little harsh, arn't we?" Mal questioned.

"Oh, you know you love it." Athena smiled, taking in a gasp of air and somehow magnetically drawing closer to Mal.

"Yeah, I do." In almost a split-second's passion, Athena wrapped her arms around Mal and took him into an intricately involved kiss. And almost completely against character, Mal didn't struggle, but wrapped his arms around Athena, kissed back and staggeringly guided their intertwined bodies to his bunk.

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"I hear the sounds again. Athena must be home." River smiled, her legs sitting Indian style on a kitchen chair. Before her on the table was a hot bowl of wonton soup that she would have been indulging in if it weren't for the unbearably loud rattling and moaning coming from the bunk just feet away from the dining quarters.

" 's about goshdarn time. Capin' was gettin' a wee bit testy if you ask me." Kaylee replied after a sip of her soup. She and Simon sat comfortably close to one another, Kaylee resting her free arm on Simon's thigh as they faced River in friendly conversation.

"I wonder why Zoe didn't go on the intercom to tell us we'd arrived." Simon interjected.

"Ain't no wonderin' needed. We all know Zoe's different. An' I'm thinkin' she's got every reason to be." Kaylee replied defensively.

"I'm not saying that, sweetie. Just concerned. I hope nothing happened." Simon explained, exchanging a smile with Kaylee, which soon was revealed to be short-lived from the incessant noise made form the below-deck lovebirds.

"Sallow sounds og the yearning heart...or loins." River said dreamily, followed by a girlish giggle. "Almost like you two."

"River!" Simon scolded, not breaking River's smile and making Kaylee blush unbearably.

"'S that the grapplers I hear?" Jayne interrupted as he entered the Dining Quarters, referring to Mal and Athena.

"Pretty much." Kaylee responded grumpily.

"Shouldn'e be drivin' this boat?" Jayne complained, grabbing a can of soup, cracking it open with one of the tools on his belt, inhaling it's contents in one shot and shooting the can into the trash nearby.

"Zoe's got it under control." Kaylee smiled. "What's up your butt?"

"Ever since that wooly grizwald stepped foot on the ship, Captain's been a mighty fine pain in my arse." Jayne spat, wiping his mouth with the back of his wrist once he finished.

"And you thought otherwise _before _she joined the crew?" Simon questioned with a slight laugh.

"Alls I'm sayin' is that she don't belong." Jayne defended, pointing at the direction of Mal's bunk just as Athena let out an extra-loud, climactic moan.

After the crew responded to this moan with a silent shared laugh, Jayne stretched out on a chair at the dining table with his hands behind his head.

"Yea-ahp" Jayne said with a yawn as he stretched. "I'd say she's definitely bound for a bughouse."

"Jealous much, are we?" River asked, seriously but still keeping her dreamy tone.

"I ain't the jealous type, mei mei. I'm just sayin'." Jayne defended in a grizzly tone.

"No, Jayne's right. She's no Shepard, she's no Inara...she's definitely no Wash." Kaylee said awkwardly. It had been a good long while since any of them had spoken of those names, and the mere sound of them was almost deafening. The crew of Serenity had been completely rocked by the deaths of Shepard Book and Wash, but to make it all worse, Inara had decided to continue her companionship on Sihnon, her home planet, a blow to the crew that left them sadly morbid. Inara had been a passenger vital to the crew, and it seemed as if things didn't function right without her.

"We shouldn't worry so much about it. It's only been a few months since she's been with us, we might as well give her a chance. She is Zoe's friend and all." Simon stated, simply personifying his new peacemaker role on the ship, mainly due to his newfound relaxation. With him and River no longer on the run, and the comfort of Kaylee with him, Simon had grown to be a much more somber character than in his past days.

"I guess..." Kaylee cut in, not entirely convinced, but willing to cooperate; the same attitude as the rest of the room's occupants.

It was just then that Mal let out an incredibly loud "Oh...OH GOD!", leaving the mood of the scene that much more uneasy.

"Well, maybe we don't exactly have to like her...we'll just have to stand her." Simon said, smiling.

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A good four hours later, Athena found herself entirely exhausted from the 'welcome' Mal had given her that her falling asleep was almost inevitable. Mal, on the other hand, was too at peace to waste it all on sleep. Instead he lay on his back, Athena resting her head on his sweaty chest, his arm wrapped protectively around her, the other behind his head. He replayed the savored moments in his head, from the beginning roleplay at the Cargo Bay. Ever since Zoe brought her aboard to help cleanup some of the ship, Athena had been the only planet he wished to explore in the entire 'verse. Ever since their first night together, Athena and Mal had toyed back and forth with witty banter and weapon-play. He liked to see it as an unspoken kink between them that seemed like just an added perk to their relationship.

Was it even that, though? Could he call it a relationship? Aside from the banter, they didn't actually talk much with their mouths and most of the time, their conversations didn't involve clothes. None of that seemed to matter to Mal. He was amazed by Athena. A keen pilot, a perfect shot, a ship dealer back on Persephone; she was the perfect woman in a package wrapped in tight leather that no part of him could resist. If anything, he didn't need to call their shindig a relationship, just as long as they kept around each other.

The silence that filled Mal's cabin had been suddenly interrupted by an unerringly loud beep from the vidphone. Grumpily ignoring the beep, Mal decided to finally close his eyes. He didn't need any disruptions from any crew or other-ship occupant. This, of course, was interrupted by several more even louder beeps and the unpleasant intercom from Zoe: "Captain, either get the call or get an unexpected visit from one of us."

Mal reluctantly rolled his eyes and arose from the bed lazily. He still felt a bit numb from the waist down, but he found enough time to grab his pants and robe from the ground, just to cover up.

"This had better be important." Mal said groggily, as he pressed the red button just below the screen.

There hadn't been many times in his life when Captain Malcolm Reynolds was shocked, scared, embarrassed and slightly aroused all at the same time. Although, the minute the deep-black haired, pale-skinned image of Inara appeared before him on the screen, Mal had experienced this and so much more.

"Hello Mal." Inara said, in that same breathy voice that he needed no time to recall.

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